Cleaning up C drive

Mr_Toad

rhcp wrote: »

Thanks for the input, a few things to think about.




It is an old computer, but it serves my needs. I have XP, and the C drive is 14.9GB with just under 1GB free space. The D drive has 22.2GB with 18.3GB free space.

Have you looked on places like Freecycle for a new, to you, disk drive?

I cleared my toy box out before Christmas and put several disks on Freecycle, a couple of 80GB, 3 x 120GB and 2 x 160GB.

Disks of that size are virtually worthless these days but I couldn't bring myself to throw them away and there is always someone somewhere who can make use of them.

If your PC serves your needs then extra space will give it another lease of life.

Dave_C_2

andy2004 wrote: »

<snip sensible advice>
2 windows update. when windows update installs its updates it usually leaves a load of files behind in a hidden drawer. These are safe to remove if you are not going to try and uninstall them. instance they've been installed for 2years.
C:\Windows\$NtUninstall...... folders (hidden)

Those hidden "$" folders are waiting (and waiting.....) for a Windows update-uninstall. Of course, this will probably never happen! If Windows is working properly and stable after the latest Windows updates, you can delete those folders. The folder $hf_mig$ is the only exception to this rule. It is advised to keep this folder as it is, although removing it doesn't result in problems.
C:\I386\
C:\Windows\Driver Cache\I386\
C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles\I386\
Do you really want to save space? Delete above folders (or burn them on CD), but at your own risk! The I386 folder contains setup files (including hardware drivers). If everything is working properly, you won't need them, but if your system needs a change you might!
C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch

In Ccleaner you can do this automagically. Go to the Windows tab and under Advanced and check Old Prefetch data and Hotfix uninstallers
The folder $hf_mig$ is unaffected but I would back it up anyway.

If you are feeling brave you can also delete all the old restore points except the latest.
Setting a restore point on a good stable boot before you start is a good idea.

Looking to the futere when your D:drive is getting full:
Assuming C: and are partitions on the hard drive, is your PC a desktop? If so it's fairly easy to add a second hard drive without disturbing your Windows installation. All you need is the new drive and maybe a new ribbon cable.

Dave

Iconic

GunJack wrote: »

yes it should be, run the norton removal tool first though:-

https://www-secure.symantec.com/norton-support/jsp/help-solutions.jsp?lg=english&ct=united+states&docid=20080710133834EN&product=home&version=1&pvid=f-home

They don't make it easy to remove it do they? I have got no idea what Symantec product was on the computer and even less idea of the password. I was thinking of doing a clean install anyway so this makes the decision easier.

andy2004

before doing a clean install, make a new XP Sp3 cd, do not install xp and then install sp3, as this will use more space, where as slipstreaming the windows xp and sp3 would be smaller. I dont know why it just is.

a how to do it is available here http://lifehacker.com/386526/slipstream-service-pack-3-into-your-windows-xp-installation-cd using Nlite you can also add your 25 digitcode so you dont have to type it in + plus your drivers for your system.
But please backup your OS drive before using the disc using something like TODO BACKUP free and creating a recovery cd/dvd.

Iconic

andy2004 wrote: »

before doing a clean install, make a new XP Sp3 cd, do not install xp and then install sp3, as this will use more space, where as slipstreaming the windows xp and sp3 would be smaller. I dont know why it just is.

a how to do it is available here http://lifehacker.com/386526/slipstream-service-pack-3-into-your-windows-xp-installation-cd using Nlite you can also add your 25 digitcode so you dont have to type it in + plus your drivers for your system.
But please backup your OS drive before using the disc using something like TODO BACKUP free and creating a recovery cd/dvd.

Thanks for the info. I have used Nlite a few times but I will follow the lifehacker procudure this time.

BTW I have not replaced the PSU yet (it's another computer) but I will let you know if it works after I have fitted it.

rhcp

Once again, thanks for everyone's input. Some good things to think about, but I think I will take a conservative approach. The last thing I want is to create problems, especially as I don't have it backed up.

closed

If it has a dvd writer, 4 dvd's would enable you to backup the lot for less than £1. If it's 8 years old, a backup would be wise anyway.

XP takes up about 3GB, so you have 11GB of something using up c:, could be temp files (run ccleaner, set IE to delete browsing history on exit), restore points (turn system restore off and back on), pagefile (control panel, system, move it to d), hibernation file (turn off hibernation in power settings (or start, run, powercfg -h off), then delete hiberfil.sys), which can all be deleted or moved - what does windirstat say? what are the biggest files and directories on c:?

There is no need to buy a new hard disk, you have plenty of free space, but it's allocated as a d drive, so the solution is to identify what is using up all the space on c, and/or shuffle things around.

rhcp

closed wrote: »

If it has a dvd writer, 4 dvd's would enable you to backup the lot for less than £1. If it's 8 years old, a backup would be wise anyway.

XP takes up about 3GB, so you have 11GB of something using up c:, could be temp files (run ccleaner, set IE to delete browsing history on exit), restore points (turn system restore off and back on), pagefile (control panel, system, move it to d), hibernation file (turn off hibernation in power settings (or start, run, powercfg -h off), then delete hiberfil.sys), which can all be deleted or moved - what does windirstat say? what are the biggest files and directories on c:?

There is no need to buy a new hard disk, you have plenty of free space, but it's allocated as a d drive, so the solution is to identify what is using up all the space on c, and/or shuffle things around.

I only have a DVD ROM.

Looking at windirsys, I have:
WINDOWS 7.3GB, Program files 2.7GB, Documents & Settings 1.5GB, <Files> 1.1GB.

In WINDOWS:
$hf_mg$ 1.4GB, system32 1.1GB, assembly 622.5MB, Installer 613.7MB.

On Program files and Documents & Settings, there are some files the associated with programs that I uninstalled a while ago, which could be as much as 500MB.

According to Defraggler, hirberfil.sys has 753MB and pagefile.sys has 344MB.

I also uninstalled LibreOffice from the C drive and then reinstalled it on the D drive. The program works fine, but the space on the C drive hasn’t changed!! Why?

GunJack

did you actually delete the Libre files from the C drive after you uninstalled it ?? Especially in XP, uninstalling doesn't always delete the files as part of the process, you need to manually check the Program Files folder and delete anything you've uninstalled

GunJack

and if you turn off the hibernate function, you can bin hiberfil too